Manchester
The game was moved from the Cougars’ Litchfield home turf the morning of the game to the artificial turf of a very cold and windy Gill.
“They controlled the line of scrimmage,” said Stevens coach Paul Silva.
And did they ever. The Cougars limited the Cardinals’ 1,000-yard rusher, Keaghan McAllister, to just 18 rushing yards on 11 carries and counterpart Baylor Rozzell to 20 yards on seven attempts. The Cougars (9-2) also picked off two passes.
However, the surprise of the day was the play of Campbell junior Conor Sweeney, who moved from split end to running back after Keegan Mills, who rushed for 254 yards and three touchdowns in last weekend’s quarterfinal win over Laconia, rolled an ankle with 9:50 to go in the second period.
Sweeney scored the game’s only touchdown and finished with 107 yards on 15 carries. Mills had an impressive 59 yards on eight run attempts before leaving the contest with his injury.
“That didn’t surprise me,” said Campbell head coach Glen Costello of Sweeney’s performance. “I knew he was capable of a game like this.”
The loss brought an end to another decent season for the seventh-seeded Cardinals (6-5), who reached the semis for the third straight year, winning it all in 2016.
“It’s disappointing,” said Silva. “I would have liked our kids to have played one more game.”
The afternoon’s only touchdown came in the first series on the second half when the Cougars went 70 yards for the points. Sweeney carried the ball on consecutive runs of 20, 4 and 19 yards, finally going untouched up the middle from 27 yards out for the touchdown.
Stevens had only one solid scoring chance and while was a dandy, it was brief. In the fourth quarter with the Cougars driving, Lucas Mudge intercepted a pass on his own 10-yard line and carried down the sideline to the Campbell 14. Whatever excitement the pickoff generated along the sidelines or in the stands, it was short-lived as Stevens tossed an interception on its first play.
While there were no other scoring opportunities, there were other occurrences — some good, some strange. In the latter category, Stevens was called for a roughing-the-kicker penalty that kept a Cougar drive alive for awhile, eventually stalling on the Stevens 25. Campbell tried a 42-yard field goal from there that not only went very wide left, but also very short.
There were also a number of punts that were knocked down by the wind, but one of the Cougar punts went from their own 44 to the Stevens 4. There was a chance it could have been returned, but the Cardinals had no kick returner on the field at the time.
Campbell started the game with an onside kick that Stevens recovered, but the Cardinals went three-and-out. Campbell then drove to the Stevens 15 but coughed the ball up with Hunter Paradis recovering for the Cardinals.
Stevens’ Gabe Spaulding also recovered a Campbell fumble on the first play of the second quarter to give the Cardinals a short field on their own 45. However, a holding penalty and a false start ruined any scoring bid, and the Cards had to punt.
Despite the loss, Stevens gets plenty back next year, with only seven seniors graduating.
Meanwhile, third-seeded Campbell will take on Monadnock in the D-III championship game next Saturday at the University of New Hampshire. Monadnock beat Hillsboro-Deering-Hopkinton, 43-12, in its semifinal on Saturday.